Changing Lives
by Trixie-gurl
Summary: Duo is a shape-shifting assassin who is after Prince Heero, and has never failed a job yet (maybe 1x2 latter on, dunno)
1. prologue

Title: Changing Lives  
  
Author: Trixie-gurl  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairing: don't know yet…  
  
Warnings: Angst  
  
notes: ehh… this is my first story ever, so it is probably really bad, but I will try to improve  
  
Disclaimers: characters is this story do not belong to me, never did, never will… it's a real shame too  
  
  
  
"Hurry! Barricade the doors, they're coming!" shouted the commander as he gave orders to the guards. "Your Majesty, please, they are about to enter the castle! We cannot last much longer"  
  
The king, still in his nightclothes from sleep, nodded to his faithful commander before he turned to his wife and son, who stood beside him with worry. "The castle will fall before sunrise, we must flee from this land."  
  
Shouts where heard outside the castle gates of the coming enemy as the queen went to her husband's arms and wept, "Why has this enemy come upon us? Why do we deserve this punishment?" she repeated between her sobs, the king could not answer them, and could only try to comfort her as their violet-eyed son stared up at them in wonderment, to young to grasp what was happening around them.  
  
The queen's sobs soon quieted, and she took the young boy's hand in her own, following her husband deeper into the castle, they had no choice but to run.  
  
"Mommy… where are we going?" asked the young boy as he was almost dragged behind them in their quick walk. "Bad men have come, we have to leave here son" Said the queen in a stern, yet loving reply.  
  
"B-but what about Blackie?" He asked in a worried voice. "You will have to leave that horse behind, we can do nothing to save him now."  
  
"NO!" He yelled as he jerked his hand from his mothers "We can't leave Blackie!"  
  
The queen turns and tried to grab his hand again, but he was too quick, and ran back through the familiar halls.  
  
The queen started after him, but was stopped quickly by her husband, "No, its to dangerous for you, go on to the tunnels, I will get Daniel and meet you there."  
  
She nodded slowly but reluctantly as she gave her king one last kiss before continuing down the corridor.  
  
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"Don't worry Blackie, I'm here, you don't have to worry" The young prince Daniel repeated to the black colt in the stable before him.  
  
The boy had managed to reach the stables without notice easily, most everyone was outside the walls trying to protect the castle from the surprise attack, and the ones inside the walls where either trying to escape through the secret tunnels, or busy preparing if the army did breach the walls.  
  
Daniel unlatched the stall door and walked up to the large colt, patting it on its side, trying to get the scared horse to go out… yet every time someone outside would scream or yell, the horse would go back into the stall, destroying any progress young Daniel had made. Several tries latter the prince sat down outside of the stall, looking up at Blackie. "You need to come out Blackie, mommy said there were bad men coming and we need to leave."  
  
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The king, in the mean time, was trying to reach the stables himself, but much slower, he was not small like his son and could not weave through the crowd of people that where trying to head to the tunnels, and did not have enough time to change.  
  
"They have entered the castle! Get out! Run!" came a shout in the distance, the Kings heart sunk as two of the royal guards seemed to appear behind him. "Sir, the queen has told us what you are doing, you must come with us, it is to dangerous here"  
  
The King shook his head, "No, my son is in the stables! I have to save him!"  
  
"It is impossible, you majesty, the Oz army has taken full control of the city and is just now coming into the castle! We are doing everything we can just to hold them off for you!"  
  
The king tried to argue further, but had no choice but to be drawn back with the guards. His head was low as he walked sadly back toward the hidden tunnels, he did not hear the approaching footsteps, nor the sound of the arrows being fired from their bows.  
  
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The young prince was trying to coax Blackie out of his stall with an apple when the Oz enemy had managed to break down the gates to the castle. When he heard footstep passing the stables, his immediate reaction was to hide, and that is what he did, he ran into an empty stall and into a break in the wall, leading him into a small open space between the stables and the stone- wall of the castle, a place he often came to when he played hide and seek with the castle's servant children. There he sat and cried, wishing it was all over, soon crying himself to sleep.  
  
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The next day, the prince woke quickly, memories of last night slowly entered his mind and he quickly raced into the stables. The scene that greeted him there was not what he had expected, every horse there was dead with slit throats, even Blackie the colt. Daniel ran to his horse, who laid next to the apple that he had dropped the night before. Slowly, the prince kneeled at the horse's side; tears ran down his cheeks for his dead horse.  
  
Many moments latter, when the prince had ran out of tears, he stood and walked to the entrance of the stables, planning on telling his father what has become of the horses. He quietly opened the big barn doors and froze when he saw what had greeted him, death, their where dead bodies everywhere, some he even recognized as friends.  
  
Tears began to fall from his cheeks again as he ran into the castle corridors and into the kings throne-room, were he had expected to find his father and mother, but yet again he found death. After searching the room for his parents, but to no avail, suddenly he remembered his father's words from long time ago and he tried to perk up. Walking out of the throne room quietly and down the hall, he repeated his father's words in his head. 'Remember the tunnels I showed you? If anything happens to this castle, then go there and wait for someone to take you through them, do you understand me?'  
  
He quickened his pace as he past two dead guards, obviously killed by the arrows in their backs, he didn't want to see their faces, he might know them, so he continued on until he spotted a man lying on his back, this time, Daniel rushed to the mans side, fear and sadness almost overwhelmed him as he turned the man over and realized that this was his father.  
  
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Solo walked through the town quietly, his eyes darkened at the sight of his surroundings. "What in the hell happened here" he said to himself as his eyes searched the destruction around him, there were dead bodies everywhere, so many he had to be careful where he walked, and this wasn't the worse part, up ahead was the castle, and the gates where wide open, that was not a good sign. "Oh man, I just came here to get something to eat, I hope whoever did this is gone now…." He turned quietly, planning to leave the town before he could get himself in any trouble, but he stopped and looked back to the castle. "…. Damn me and my curiosity!" He sighed to himself and continued toward the castle.  
  
Once inside the gate there were fewer bodies and he could easily run without stepping on anyone, and that he definitely didn't want.  
  
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The young prince had almost cried himself to sleep when he thought he heard a horse walking. He sat up slowly and strained his ears to listen…. Yes, he definitely heard something like that. With a sniffle he stood and hid behind a tall statue in the hall and waited.  
  
The sound got louder and closer and the prince was certain it was a horse, and when the sound seemed to stop completely, he began to believe that it was Blackie coming to find him. He looked out from behind the statue carefully, hoping to see his horse come back to him, but instead Daniel found something much different.  
  
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'Well gee this isn't much better, where are all the jewels and stuff' Solo thought to himself as he examined one room before continuing down the quiet hall 'wait a minute' he stopped as he heard a hiccup, glancing around he found himself being stared at by some wide-eyed kid behind some ugly statue.  
  
"Hey who are you?" Solo asked, but the kid didn't answer with his name, "Your not a horse…." Solo sight slightly, 'obviously this kid was delusional, or maybe traumatized…' he thought before speaking to him. "No, I'm what you call a centaur… ehh… you know…. Well my name is Solo, do you have a name?"  
  
It took a few moments for the young prince to come out from behind the statue. "I'm Prince Daniel of the shape shifter kingdom of Harmony." He said it as if he had practiced or said it several times before.  
  
"Daniel… well how would you like to come with me, you don't have much to live for here anymore." The young prince Daniel looked around as the events of the day seem to sink in and he realized that his family was gone forever, he sniffed as he tried not to cry in front of his seemingly new friend, but failed horribly as he saw his father. Solo looked down at him, not really knowing what to do, so he picked the young prince up. Setting Daniel in his back, he turned and walked out of the castle, and with one last search of the land, they both left the kingdom of Harmony. 


	2. Chapter 1

Title: Changing Lives  
  
Author: Trixie-gurl  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairing: don't know yet…  
  
Warnings: none real bad in this chapter… oh wait, non-main character death  
  
notes: ok here is chapter 1, I hope its better than the prologue, but I don't know  
  
Disclaimers: characters is this story do not belong to me, never did, never will… it's a real shame too  
  
"WHAT?!" The grumpy ambassador screamed at his servant when he was told the news, "What do you mean we have to camp here?!"  
  
"Well sire, you see, the horses and men are tired, and cannot travel any longer without rest, a-a-and it will be dark soon... Please sire." The poor servant girl cringed as Ambassador Randolph was thrown into a fit of curses at anyone and anything around him, she really did hate him, and never could understand how such a grumpy and self-centered man could have become an Ambassador of the Oz Kingdom.  
  
"Very well servant girl, we shall rest for now, prepare my bed! We must wake early tomorrow!"  
  
As the young girl hurried off to help prepare the caravan for the night, the redheaded Ambassador emerged from his carriage to look around him. "What a filthy place, we must travel faster tomorrow so we can make it back to the Oz Kingdom in time for the prince's birthday. "  
  
An hour latter and several curses at Randolph's slow servants, the caravan was settled in a small empty field, the horses groomed and the people fed, half the people were already asleep from the rough day the Ambassador put them through.  
  
"What a lazy bunch of fools, they are already asleep on a night such as this, I think this would be the perfect night to take a walk, even in a filthy place like this", Randolph said with a chuckle, already half drunk on the wine he had with his large supper. "But sire", a young servant spoke, "It is dangerous in this forest, several wild animals live around here… perhaps it would be best if you stayed close to the caravan, at least have someone go with you…" "NONSENSE!" he bellowed at the poor servant, "Don't be foolish, it is perfectly safe for a walk, and no animal dare come near me, it is ridiculous to think otherwise, now leave me be and go… clean or something."  
  
The servant nodded slightly and scurried off, leaving Randolph to finish his wine and grab his walking cane. "Yes, it is a good night for a walk", he murmured to himself as he left the caravan circle.  
  
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Violet-tinted eyes watched the foolish, fat man leave the safety of the servants and walk further away and into the forest, 'This is going to be perfect', the figure thought to himself as he trotted silently through the forest, 'now, no one else has to die…'  
  
With a small growl deep in his throat, the wolf-like creature past the foolish man's path behind him. 'This is to easy'  
  
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"Who's there?" Randolph shouted as he turned around, and then again, waving his walking cane in mid-air, "I know someone is following me, I said I wanted to walk alone!"  
  
When no one answered his shouts, he became angry, believing that one of his servants was playing a trick, and he hated tricks.  
  
"Fine! If no one shall show themselves, then I will send all of my servants to jail for disobedience!"  
  
Silence…  
  
"I-I-I mean it! Every one of them!" He shouted into the forest around him, beginning to grow afraid.  
  
A deep growl came to his ears not long after that, Randolph's heart almost exploded in his chest and he turn around so quickly, the hat fell from his head, "Who's there? Show yourself!" He screamed into the forest, his walking cane held out in front of him as protection. "Don't come any closer whoever you are!"  
  
Panic grew within himself until he could no longer take it. Throwing his cane at the nearest bush, he ran as fast as his short legs could take him.  
  
"SERVANTS!" he called, "SERVANTS I NEED HELP!" Yet no one heard him, they were all asleep by now, to tired to wake.  
  
Ambassador Randolph soon grew tired, but refused to stop, his mind seemed to be playing tricks on him, he thought he heard something chasing him, no… there was something chasing him, Randolph realized as he struggled to go faster.  
  
"HELP! ANYBODY HELP!" He called out again, yet they were futile, for, whatever was chasing him was right behind him, and now upon him.  
  
Randolph fell to the ground with a heavy thud and tried to get up, but he could not, something was holding him down. "Please no! I do not deserve to die by an animal!"  
  
He turned his head and saw what was upon him, a solid black wolf. Randolph tried to scream, but it died in his throat as the wolf's jaws clapped down into his neck, breaking it instantly.  
  
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A tall man walking into a large room with his advisors and commanders, and a servant that had followed him in. They all took their respected places at the table presented to them. Once everyone was settled and ready, one of the older advisors spoke.  
  
"King Yuy, you are aware of the growing deaths, are you not?"  
  
"Yes…" The king said, pulling slightly on his brown beard, "Our Ambassador Randolph was the most recent, was he not?"  
  
"Yes Yes, that makes five killings this year, Sir, we cannot keep this Kingdom strong unless we do something about this"  
  
"But how, Kendrick, do we find out who is killing them, the only thing that these people's deaths have in common is that they are noble men working for this kingdom and that they were all killed by an animal." The advisors and commanders around him remained silent of the answer to the King's questions for several long moments, until one spoke up. "Maybe it wasn't just any animal… maybe someone was training the animal to kill certain people…."  
  
The king fell quiet when a thought came to him, and then stood from the table, "I suddenly feel tired, we will continue this conversation after my sons birthday."  
  
They all agreed eventually and left the room as the King called the servant.  
  
"Yes sir, how may I help?" He asked quietly.  
  
"Send a message to Clíona, tell her I would like to speak with her tomorrow, I think I will retire to my bed," the king said as he rubbed his head irritably, "There is still a lot of work ahead."  
  
The servant left the room quickly, off to do what he was told and the king soon left as well.  
  
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"Hey Duo!" A familiar voice called out as Duo came closer to one of the wagons near camp.  
  
"Huh… Quatre? Is that you? Where the heck are you?" He asked looking around him; the blonde boy was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Under here," Quatre called out as his head popped out from underneath the wagon, "This wagon broke, I'm trying to fix it"  
  
"Whoa, hang on, does Solo know about this? I mean, last time you tried to fix something, it kinda… exploded…."  
  
"Oh enough Duo, that was along time ago, and I used the wrong spell, that is all. I can fix this without magic… oh, that reminds me, Solo said you had another job, so go find him when you can." When he finished watching Duo sulk, Quatre returned his attention to fixing the wagon and disappeared underneath it again.  
  
Setting his bag in the wagon slowly, Duo left to find Solo, passing another wagon in particular, he had to stop and knock on the door. "Hey! Hilde, open up! I'm hungry!"  
  
After a few moments, Hilde opened the door, pot in hand, "Duo! Can't you wait till dinner like everyone else?"  
  
"But I'm hungry now, pleaseeeee?" Duo asked, putting his hands together to make it more dramatic. "Duo!… Oh fine, wait here" Duo smiled real big, like a child getting a cookie, waiting for the cook to return. Soon Hilde returned with a bowl of hot soup and a sandwich. "There are you…. Happy" Before Hilde could even finish her sentence, Duo was already half-way through his sandwich, "Hilde… how can you… make such good food…" He asked between bites. Hilde almost gagged, "Just eat and let me finish, there are a lot of other people to feed." Duo was already finished with his sandwich when he waved goodbye to the young cook and left with his soup, to find Solo.  
  
Passing several more wagons Duo waved to his fellow performers and friends he saw, once almost dropping his precious soup when a dog jumped up to meet him. Finally, after searching half the caravan, he found the blonde centaur talking with two twin brothers, "Hey Solo! As much as I like being a traveling performer and being in your caravan, it is a pain in the ass to find someone around here!" Solo glanced at him, and quickly finished his conversation with the two twins before walking over to him. "Hey Duo, I take it that you finished the job?"  
  
"Oh come on Solo, would I ever fail? Now come on, Quatre said you had yet another job for little ole' me" Duo joked as he sat down on a stump to finish his bowl of soup.  
  
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Prince Heero walked down the corridor of the castle in silence; along side him was Wufei, his friend and guardian for the moment by order. He really hated that he had to be followed around all day, just because some noble men had been killed lately, yet he was glad that someone he knew would be following him around and not someone his father picked out. "Heero…"  
  
The prince was called out if his thoughts as he looked back at Wufei, "Yes?"  
  
"Its time for me to go now, I'll report to the king latter that you need a new guard ok?" Wufei understood how Heero felt about being guarded all the time and knew that he could defend himself just fine so he often would wait before telling anyone his shift was over, even if he did get in trouble a few times. "Thanks," He said quietly and watched his friend leave, the day was not over and he wanted to go for a ride, 'for a secret ride' he thought to himself.  
  
Arriving at the castle's stables, Heero found that there was no one working there at the moment and he could easily get his horse and leave without being seen. Carefully he walked to where his horse was kept and unlatched the gate quietly, 'Better safe than sorry' Taking the horse out of the stall, Heero lead him to the tackle room, where he knew he would find a saddle and reins.  
  
Several minutes latter, Heero finished saddling his horse and lead him to the entrance.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He turned quickly to the source of the voice, where he spotted a brunette haired, which seemed to cover one eye completely, boy standing with one of the workhorses, watching Heero's every move, 'Damn, I'll never get out of this castle now….' He thought as he glared at the boy, as if it was his fault, which it was. Several moments past without either boy saying a word, it only ended when a packhorse neighed to another horse in the next stall. The boy near the workhorse finally turned and lead the horse away, glancing back at Heero, "Have a nice ride."  
  
Heero continued to glare at the strange boy until he rounded the corner and went out of sight, then he looked at his horse, 'He is probably going to tell someone, but I don't care right now, I just want to get out of here with Wing' Heero turned quickly and lead the white horse out of the stables. 


	3. Chapter 2

Title: Changing Lives  
  
Author: Trixie-gurl  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairing: don't know yet… if I do have pairings, then there will be, but I can't write the love  
  
scene even if I wanted to.  
  
Warnings: Nothing real bad here  
  
notes: Ok, here is the next chapter, not really going anywhere but has important  
  
information in it. Don't forget this is my first so its not that good.  
  
Disclaimers: characters is this story do not belong to me, never did, never will… it's a real shame too, but then again, it might be a blessing to them  
  
"Sire?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You wanted to see me today?"  
  
"Oh yes" The King stood from his set slowly and walked to the door where Clíona stood, she bowed to him and they both left the room to walk the halls in peace.  
  
"I have a question that I think you can answer Clíona…" The King said after they had walked a ways without any disturbance.  
  
"Yes Sire… I will try to answer to the best of my abilities." She said, a little uneasy.  
  
"Twelve years ago I overthrew my brother after he was suspected of the destruction of Harmony, which is, I recall, was a Kingdom of beings that could change forms… am I right? Answer truly."  
  
"Yes sire, the lost race…." Clíona said quietly.  
  
"I also recall that you was one of his few advisors…"  
  
"Yes, that is also true, but I had no knowledge of the attack, it was decided that it was the doctors that persuaded him. I was away with my dieing mother…."  
  
"I know, that is why you are allowed to stay here, but, do you think that there are still beings of that Nation still living after that massacre, I mean, any that might want any revenge on the ones responsible?" King Yuy asked, hoping to find any reason for the deaths lately.  
  
"I am sure that there are shifters that live… but they was no report of any survivors at the Kingdom of Harmony… not after your brothers meaningless slaughter…"  
  
"Thank you Clíona, that is all I wished to ask you…"  
  
Clíona bowed to her king, and left him to his thoughts.  
  
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"You want me to do what?" Duo stood from his seat on the old stump and walked a few steps away from his centaur friend. "I can't kill the prince, even if I could get close to him, he is guarded ever minute of his freaking life!"  
  
"No… sometimes he is seen without a guard, and I have a plan to get you close enough without notice." Solo said calmly, his eyes watching Duo's back.  
  
The braided assassin remained silent for several moments, contemplating the idea, before facing his friend again, "Ok, what is your big idea?"  
  
"Its simple, you know that it's the Prince's birthday next week, and we are going to perform for the festival they are going to hold?" Solo said with a sly smile.  
  
"Yea…."  
  
"Well, we will also offer several gifts to Prince Heero as well, including, a pure bread wolf."  
  
"Oh that's nice, but where are you gonna get a… Hey! What do you think I am?"  
  
"Well you are going to be the prince's royal pet, if you are successful in killing him, we can do the rest, rumors are strong allies… It could weaken the royals enough for the removal of the Yuy family from power…"  
  
Duo watched the centaur as he stood and left, leaving him, the campfire, and his empty soup bowl.  
  
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Heero lead Wing into the stables quietly, it was past sunset and he knew that his father would be mad at him for being so careless.  
  
'Careless, right… freedom is more like it.'  
  
His eyes searched the dimly lit building for anyone that might be working the late shift, not seeing anyone; he quickly put the white steed in its proper stall, then checked his surrounding again, not wanting a repeat of the afternoon. Now certain that he was alone with the horses he turned and walked out of the stables and into the castle, hoping to get to his room without any confrontations.  
  
"Heero!"  
  
'To late' he cringed to himself as he turned around in the castle corridor to face his father.  
  
"Where have you been?" King Yuy looked down upon his son in anger for putting more worry on himself.  
  
"I went for a ride on Wing" Heero said flatly, he was always taught that he shouldn't avoid punishment for irresponsibility, plus he really didn't care.  
  
"Heero, I dislike having you guarded as much as you do, but it is necessary, your birthday will be next week and you will be sixteen, you should be more responsible."  
  
"Father, I would be more responsible if you put more trust in me, I can defend myself." He stated to his father, with even less emotion than before.  
  
"Son, please, I have reason to believe that the royalty is in danger, you might be in danger…" The king turned from Heero and walked away, "You will be guarded until we can get to the bottom of these deaths."  
  
He narrowed his eyes at his father; sometimes he could not stand the likes of him.  
  
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Trowa walked through the forest in silence, away from the glow of the castle, far enough away that he knew he would not be seen.  
  
'Quatre…'  
  
There was silence for several moments, before Trowa could hear another voice.  
  
'Trowa?'  
  
'Yea, I'm reporting in.'  
  
'Ok, what have you got tonight?'  
  
'Nothing big, the festival is still being prepared… and nothing suspicious has been directed to the performers yet.'  
  
'That is good… anything else?'  
  
'Yea… I saw the prince again, he went riding without a guard again.'  
  
'Good… then everything is well. I'll see you soon Trowa'  
  
Trowa smiled to himself as he broke the mind connection and started back to the castle.  
  
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Quatre couldn't help but smile when he saw Duo begging Hilde for more food and Hilde shouting at him to get him to go away.  
  
"Duo!" He finally called out to his friend "Give it up! She is like a rock!"  
  
Duo finally gave up and began to walk away, but quickly grabbed a few more items of food when Hilde turned her back. He laughed to himself as he finally came to sit by Quatre, who smiled widely at him. "Hey magic man! What are you so happy about?" Duo asked right before he shoved several pieces of food in his mouth at once.  
  
"Nothing, just excited about next week, hey, you wanna see one of my tricks?" Quatre turned on his begging eyes and Duo had to roll his eyes, but nodded anyway.  
  
"Great, ok watch this." The blonde pulled out a small sphere from his pocket and held it out in font of him. Closing his eyes, he let the orb go and let it float in mid-air; It floated back and forth from hand to hand as Duo watched, half paying attention, half eating. Suddenly, and without warning, the sphere exploded into a bright light, two doves flew out from the flash and into the sky. It scared the hell out of Duo and he almost fell from his seat. "Shit Quatre, don't do that without telling me!"  
  
Quatre gave a sly smile before laughing at his friend. "I'm sorry Duo, I couldn't help it your just gullible."  
  
Duo snorted slightly before shoving more food into his mouth, planning revenge for the blonde magician.  
  
The next day, everyone was busy packing the wagons for the journey they where to make within a week to the Oz Kingdom, people placing things here, people placing things from here to there, and people moving back the things there to here, no one wanted to forget anything.  
  
"Hey Quatre, Trowa did say that there was nothing going wrong on his end right?"  
  
"Hm… oh yea, he said that everything was fine… everything is gonna be ok Duo, you are the only one that will stay behind…"  
  
Duo pouted slightly and crossed his arms, "And what the heck is that suppose to mean?"  
  
"Nothing… nothing at all" He said with a smirk before continuing to pack his supplies.  
  
"Well fine, if your going to be mean to me, then I won't tell you where I hid that snake, no wait… I'll give you a hint, its somewhere in your wagon."  
  
"You did what!" He jumped away from the wagon faster than a jackrabbit from a crocodile, quickly hiding behind Duo. "Duo! Please tell me you didn't!"  
  
That did it, Duo broke down with laugher, when Solo showed up a few minutes later, he found Duo rolling on the ground, laughing, and Quatre standing twenty feet away, eyeing the wagon nervously.  
  
"Eh… Maybe I should have come in a few minutes earlier…" Solo said scratching the back of his head, "Whatever you two are doing, you better hurry, we are leaving within an hour."  
  
"Right, right Solo, will do." Duo said when he finally got control of himself and picked himself up off the ground.  
  
"Ok Quatre, I'm sorry, there isn't any snake, but I couldn't help it, you're just so gullible!" Duo continued to laugh as he left to finish packing his own stuff, leaving Quatre to search the wagon, just in case.  
  
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	4. Chapter 3

Title: Changing Lives  
  
Author: Trixie-gurl  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Pairing: don't know yet… if I do have pairings, then there will be, but I can't write the love  
scene even if I wanted to.  
  
Warnings: Nothing real bad here  
  
notes: hrm.... now I know why it takes so long for chapters to get out, and yes Duo is Daniel, I forgot to write that in the last part...  
Disclaimers: characters is this story do not belong to me, never did, never will… it's a real shame too, but then again, it might be a blessing to them  
  
  
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Every year on the week of Prince Heero's birthday, there was a festival, started by King Yuy himself for the love of his child, and everyone was excited, the festival was always a big thing, old and young alike participated in all the fun, and this year was even better. King Yuy had sent out for Solo and his caravan, known to all as the best performance ever seen. People from all over the kingdom, even a few traveled from neighboring kingdoms, came to enjoy the festivities.  
"There here!" a young boy shouted across the crowd. Everyone turned to see wagons beginning to make their way through the gates of the city, already there were people gathering around, cheering as the performers made their way through the crowd, jugglers, fire breathers, dancers, clowns, magicians, even Quatre, they all showed off to the excited crowds.  
The arrival of the performers seemed to trigger the start of the entire festival, everything, if possible, became brighter and it seemed like a giant circus. The performers continued to make their way through the excited crowd until Solo, who was leading the entire caravan, stopped in front of the castle gates, where he greeted the King and his son with a low bow.  
"Greetings your majesty," he called out above the crowd, "My name is Solo and we have come to perform for you son's birthday." Solo bowed again and gestured to the long line of wagons that where at a stop behind him, some of the performers where still showing off in the crowd around them.   
"Yes, very well, you must be tired, come, bring the wagons inside the castle gates, I'm sure you and your men must be tired from the travels and cannot perform today, is that right?" The King said in a surprisingly gentle voice, causing the crowd to hush around them.  
"Yes Sire, we are tired and would like to rest before returning to the festive, it would not be right if we were not at our best at an even such as this." Solo stated as he glanced back. "We would like to rest until tonight, then we can start setting up."  
"Very well, come, we have prepared a place for you all." He King smiled as he turned and walked into the castle gates, Heero following close behind. Solo again glanced behind him before following the King, "Well so far so good," he said under his breath as the traveling caravan, much to the disappointment of the people around them, disappeared behind the walls.  
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"Duo... Duo... DUO!"  
"Whaaaaat? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?!"  
"But Duo! Where here!" Quatre gave Duo one last shove before crawling out of the wagon, "I can't believe you slept through all that noise, but the cost is clear now!"   
"So I can come out? Yay!" Duo slid out of the wagon he was hiding in and glanced around, finding himself in the court yard of a castle, he guessed it was the Oz castle, "Damn, I sure would like to see what the city looked like." He said with a huff as he stretched his hands above his head slowly yawning in the process.  
"So... Quatre... when does the Prince get his gifts?" He said walking up behind Quatre and watched him unpack his things. "In three days Duo, you know that..."  
"Oh yea..." He sighed slightly and glanced around, "And... Where is Solo?"   
"I think he is talking with the king... hey, will you hold... this..." Quatre turned to look at his friend, but found that he was alone. "Oh no... Solo isn't going to like this..." He sighed to himself, knowing exactly where Duo was going. 'Oh well, I wouldn't blame him,' he thought as he set down a box of a few things and continued to unpack, 'Now I wonder where Trowa is...'  
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"Yes, and thank you again for coming," The centaur bowed once more to the king before he left the large thrown room where he and the king had been talking about they're arrangements. All the time, Heero had been watching quietly, for some reason, he did not trust the half beast like his father did, the one named Solo seemed to have something planned, and Heero knew it. Of course knowing his father, he didn't expect a thing; Heero was ready for Solo to leave for good.  
When the centaur disappeared behind the throne room doors, Heero looked to his happy father, knowing that the King would never believe him, he decided to turn to someone who would.  
"Father, I would like to go and enjoy the festival if you will allow it."  
"Yes,yes of course son, but Wufei is going with you." The King said, making sure there will be no disobedience from his son.  
Heero nodded quietly, Wufei was exactly the one he wanted to talk to. King Yuy sent one of the servants for the young knight before he turned back to his son, "I am surprised you agreed, I'm also glad you are learning responsibility." Wufei soon appeared, rather angry for being disturbed from his training, and both him and Heero left for the festival, Wufei muttering things about 'injustice' as they went.  
Soon after they had left the castle walls and where walking among the crowed streets, Heero spoke to his friend,  
"Wufei, I don't trust that centaur, I can't help but think that he has something planned..."  
Wufei, who was glaring at anyone who dared look at him in his foul mood, almost missed what Heero was saying and had to think about it for a few a moments before he finally answered, "Hm... I have yet to see the centaur... so I do not know, but I do wonder why they agreed to come perform when they have never come here before." Wufei almost ran into the Prince's back when he decided to stop, with no warning what so ever, "Damn it Heero why did you stop!"   
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Duo walked through the crowd as quietly as he could, his face hidden under the hood of his cloak, he did not want to be seen before he completed his mission, but he did want to see the town for himself, to see the people, and to enjoy the festival that was to bring an end to the Yuy family.   
He had already bought several 'things' from several stalls that where spread out through the streets and now he was watching two young girls dance to the people around them, hoping to earn a few coins for their dance.  
Duo clapped like the rest of the people around them, but, unlike them, he gave the two girls some of his coins, or to better put it, the coins he took from some rich bastards earlier.  
The girls gave their thanks to Duo before running off the perform somewhere else for other people. Duo, on the other hand, started heading back to the castles when his stomach growled, deciding that Hilde's food was much better than the food they where selling out here.  
"Out of my way, peasent!" The next thing Duo knew, he was face first in the dirt, shoved down by some fat guy who thought way to highly of himself. Duo hated people like that.  
He turned his head and looked up to the bastard who had pushed him down, he was laughing, and that only angered Duo more.With almost in-human speed he had picked himself off from the ground and threw his fist into the man's nose, a loud crack informed Duo he had definitely broken his nose. The man fell back onto the ground, falling unconcious almost immediatly. Duo just smirked and droped his hand to his side, eyeing the people around him, who where apparently staring at him.  
'Good thing my hood stayed on, yea I'm cool' He though to himself as he turned to leave before anyone could try and identify him.When he finally managed to disappear from the witnesses' sights, he let out a sigh, glad he wasn't seen by anyone he knew or he would have been in deep shit.  
Unfortunatly for Duo, almost right after he let out that sigh, someone tapped him on the shoulder, suprising Duo into a yelp before he spun around and glared at whoever it was.  
"Shit Trowa you scared me!" Duo almost yelled at his tall friend, "Oh man, I'm in trouble now..."  
"More than you think," Trowa leaned closer to Duo's ear, so no one around them could hear what he was going to say, "The prince saw it all and is coming this way, you better get out of there."  
No sooner had Trowa finished his sentence, Duo was running thorugh the crowd as quick as his feet could take him, hoping that the Prince would just lose sight of him, or just not chase at all. As he glanced over his shoulder he saw no one chasing him. 'Yes, I don't see him, they didn't suspect a thing!' He grinned happily, and started back toward the castle, "I think its much safer hiding in one of those wagons that trying to be just another face in the crowd." His stomach growled, "Correction, go get food, then hide!" He laughed to himself as he made his way back, never suspecting the pair of female eyes that watched him in hatred from high in the castle.  
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That night, everything was set up for the performers first show, which was to be a closed show, as they decided, for just the Royals and noblemen in the castle cortyard. There was a huge stage set in the center of the yard, letting everyone get a clear view of the performance while the wagons and performers hid behind the stage with ease. It was also decided that when they were to perform again for the open public, they would not have to move the stage, but the court yard could be opened for people to come in and watch. Everything was ready, everybody was set, and the show was about to begin.  
In the front row of the crowd, were the royals sat impatiently for the performance, Heero had his mind on other things. Like, who was that boy, why did he run, and were had he seen the taller boy he was talking to before...  
His mind snapped back into the present when his father had tapped him on the shoulder and informed him that the show was starting...  
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Trixie: Yay here is another chapter! but its really short... sorry guys, but I kinda hit a writers block after that last part.  
But on a light note: I pretty much got everything situated about the story! YAY!!!!! I'm not confused anymore!!!! 


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